


The One With The Handcuffs

by Skysquid22



Series: The One With... [1]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Handcuffed Together, Handcuffs, M/M, My First Fanfic, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 01:02:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9943310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skysquid22/pseuds/Skysquid22
Summary: Rafael Barba and Sonny go to Liv's and Tucker's wedding. High jinks ensue.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first fan fiction so don't expect a masterpiece. Please give me suggestions on what to do better next time. Especially on my writing. Also sorry for how choppy it sounds.  
> Thanks.
> 
> If I write anymore it's probably going to be a one-shot. So look out for my series that may or may not take off. "The One With..."

Tucker and Lieu are getting married.

Who would’ve thought? 

She casually mentioned it right after the team finished a particularly bad case. Sonny is certainly proud of them. He can only imagine what would Barba think. Sure, sure, Barba would be happy for them, but what does he truly think? Sonny has been observing them, and their friendship. They are friends for sure but, there's an awkward kind of air between the two whenever Ed is mentioned. Barba acts like he’s fine. 

Anyway they were all coming down from a stress high in the bullpen when Liv walked out of her office a minute later after Barba left and said, “Oh hey guys, I forgot to mention this earlier but, me and Tucker are getting married.”

Sonny’s head shot up from the leftover paperwork. He jumped up and started to say the regular congratulations. Fin and Rollins soon followed. 

“Hey where’s Barba?”, Olivia says looking toward the door.

“He just left Lieu.” Sonny replies. He thinks that maybe Barba already knew and left to avoid saying nice things about Tucker. 

“Oh,” she says, fiddling with her reading glasses. She sounds disappointed, maybe it was her plan to force him into saying nice things about Tucker when the rest of the squad is there. Guilt trip him into it. “Well I suppose I’ll tell him later then.” A small smile crosses her lips. Instead it seems Barba will be forced to give compliments all by himself. She thanks everyone and says she’s got to go plan a wedding and tells everyone to go home and get some well deserved rest. The paper work can be done tomorrow. 

~

Sonny squints in the bright afternoon sun. June weddings are nice and all but, having it outside was perhaps not a great idea. According to Rollins, the couple preferred an outdoor wedding rather than one in a church. He can respect that, they aren’t very religious and the weather is nice. He just can’t wait to get back to the hotel and change before the reception. 

During the ceremony he’s sitting near the front and hopes Amanda doesn’t notice his very discreet hand coming up to his face to wipe away his tears. Afterwards everyone is thanking and congratulating each other. After the people have said what they’ve wanted to stay they mill about nervously. They don’t know what to do now. Sonny doesn’t know either. Amanda is right next to him blabbering to someone's relatives about Jessie. He glances down to his attire, he would be talking but, there’s nothing more to say. Sonny is wearing a nice dark blue, 3 piece suit. He hopes he looks nice. 

He then spots Barba, he’s also wearing a 3 piece suit, but his is a nice cream white. Fitting for a wedding. He’s standing right next to Fin engaging in some kind of conversation. He looks anxious and disinterested, he’s shifting his weight from foot to foot, Barba lifts his hands to his clean suit---pulling at it. He badly wants to take the coat off, to get to the vest Carisi presumes. Sonny’s subconscious says to take it off for him but, before that thought continues any further he shuts it down. Not now, not at the Lieu’s wedding. 

It’s funny how bored Barba looks. Like he was dragged along by his parents. He’s not even meeting Fin’s looks, he is just nodding a bit, saying a few words, and then continues to stare off to the side. Maybe Barba has had enough of whatever Fin is talking about. Sonny is gonna put his money on gaming.

“I used to spend any money I could find and use it at the arcade. Pacman was my game.”

Yup.

Barba notices Sonny coming over and locks his gaze and keeps it. It’s the longest he’s ever held a staring contest with him. 

“Alright Fin we get it, you’re old.” Sonny says, interrupting Fin on his speech on Asteroids. Barba shoots him a quick thankful smile. If he’d blinked he would have missed it. Fin and Barba then share a smirk.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” Fin mutters. 

They make small talk for a few minutes on how happy they are for Liv and Tucker. Sonny thinks he should be memorizing this speech now. Then people start to realize that others are leaving for the reception.

~

The building where the majority of friends and families take their stay is a nice hotel. The main thing is the reception is literally right outside the window. A short elevator ride down to drink. Then a short elevator ride up so you don’t have to worry about driving home. 

It’s practically on the beach. The wind swept up the sand forcing people to stick close to the hotel. Close to the alcohol. I mean it’s 4 o’clock and every adult of legal age has a drink in their hands. The kids stay where else---the kids table. Rollins is sitting with Sonny sipping away at a martini.

“Hey Carisi, eyes over here not at Barba.” 

Dammit. 

He got caught. Well not too much of a loss, it’s just Rollins. She knows all about Carisi’s little crush and teases him endlessly about it. 

“A wedding would be a perfect cover for you wouldn’t it? Get overly drunk, confess your love---oh I’m sorry crush--- to Barba, and if all goes well, get laid.”

“That’s not gonna happen Amanda. Cut the crap.”

She laughs, her head thrown back though it’s mostly sarcastic. “I don’t know about you Carisi, but I would love to get drunk. Can’t wait to embarrass myself in front of Liv.”

Crap. He didn’t think about that. Becoming an embarrassment to Liv and Tucker on their wedding day. But. He still wants to get drunk. He wants to get drunk enough where will forget. Where he will say that he likes Barba. Where Barba will returns his feelings. Okay maybe not that last one will happen but, he wants to get drunk. He glances at Barba, his coat is finally off and his tie is askew and he looks great in that vest and---

Let’s stop that now. When he forces himself to look away from the object of his desire he sees Rollins has got a shot in front of him. 

“Drink Carisi. Relax.”

He takes the drink and nods at Amanda.

~~~

Oh god everything hurts. Sonny wants to open his eyes but it would hurt worse if he does. He tries not to move his body too much. What happened? He remembers drinking with Rollins for a while then seeing a variety of faces. Unrecognizable faces according to his memory. He remembers going to Barba. Drunk. Still sitting at the table with no one around.

Sonny is pretty sure this is the worst hangover of his life. He slowly opens opens his eyes. The white light burns and he hisses also regretting that because his mouth is dry and sore. Luckily for him the room is fairly dim. Wait where is he. 

Well, Sonny is on the floor, the room---or rather hallway---is slanted and his vision is close to the ground. Looking at his right arm he could see his ruffled and slightly damp clothing. Uhg, that was a nice suit too, where is his jacket? 

He clenches his fist once. Twice. Three times. He needs water and an aspirin. Sonny opens his eyes a little more and recognizes where he is. It’s one of the hallways in the hotel. How did he get here? 

He sits up a little and feels a tug at his left wrist. Cold metal. He looks over to the dead weight.

It’s Barba

Oh my god it’s Barba.

Sonny’s half laying down on the hotel floor with wrinkled and suspiciously chlorine smelling clothes handcuffed to Rafael Barba. 

Oh my god.

Sonny’s mind starts to move a thousand miles per second and it hurts his head. He really needs an aspirin. He sighs, what the hell happened. 

Suddenly Barba is shuffling. His head is facing toward Carisi so when he opens his eyes he’ll be looking at Sonny. He scrunches up his face and Sonny can tell he’s thinking the same stuff Carisi was thinking a few minutes ago. 

His face is in pure pain, Sonny wishes he could take that pain away. Barba squints his eyes, and it takes a moment for him to meet Sonny’s eyes. Barba’s face goes from tired to surprise, Sonny would laugh at that sudden change but, it would hurt to laugh so he doesn’t say anything. 

Barba’s right hand jerks away but is constrained by the handcuffs, it accidentally pulls Sonny toward him a bit. Both gasp at the pain. They are both sitting up now. On the carpet. Of an hotel hallway. Rafael is the first to say something.

“Wh-what happened…?” he croaks out. Sonny feels bad. He also realizes that he wants to take care of Barba. 

“I have no idea.” It’s surprising how awful he sounds. Like he’s dying. He sure feels like he is.

Barba brings his left hand to his head and gets a good look of where they were. 

“What floor are we on?” Barba whispers. 

Sonny sighs and brings his right hand to his head as well. “I have no idea.”

It’s like his brain doesn’t want to think. But, Sonny suffers through the pain and does it anyway. He need to find the key to the handcuffs, also how did he get handcuffed to Barba. At least Barba is the logical one here. Meanwhile Sonny is doing nothing.

“Let’s get water. Come on.” Barba says, pulling at the handcuffs. 

Sonny uses the wall to support him up and he wants to fall down again. Barba tries to stand too. He’s really struggling and he looks like hell. Sonny does not want to look at himself in the mirror right now.   
The pair shuffle along the floor, searching for an bathroom. Carisi looks at the sign over the elevator. 3rd Floor. Great. He tugs a bit at the cuffs to use the stairs instead of the bumpy elevator. Barba seems to catch on and nods. They painfully make their way downstairs and head to the reception area. At least there’s staff up. Sonny wonders what time it is.

“Hello?” he hates how his voice sounds, “Do you know what time it is?” 

He won’t turn and look at Barba’s questioning gaze. Instead he gives a small smile.

The receptionist lady gives a knowing smirk and says, “It’s 6:47.”

Ugh way too early. And by the way he can hear Barba scoff he thinks too soon to be awake as well. Carisi murmurs a thank you and heads toward the party area.

Beer bottles, shot glasses, and wine glasses are strewn about. A few passed out people are on the ground still asleep. Sonny feels a pang of sympathy for those poor bastards, left all alone in the cold. He turns to Barba to look for a reaction. He’s still not meeting his eyes, it’s like what he was like yesterday when Sonny bailed him out of a big Fin rant. Only this time he’s looking toward the floor like it has the key and the look on his face is tired, not the slight reminiscence of happy like before.

Honestly it’s hard to tell what he is thinking. It’s such a blank face he can’t find any emotion. Sonny still leads towards the bar. That’s all that’s been happening for the moment, Barba talks, barley, and Sonny leads. 

God, neither of them wants to look at alcohol again. Carisi takes a look back at Barba again, yup he’s looking away from the alcohol. 

“You know, I still don’t completely hate borbon right now,”

Sonny lets out a breath of air, a borderline laugh, he knows he’s lying. 

Sonny finally gets to the mini fridge full of bottled water and grabs one for each.

Barba flashes a quick smile as thanks and tries to use his other hand to open the cap. He unintentionally drags Sonny’s hand and they brush them together for a moment. Sonny blushes a little and hopes to god that Barba doesn’t see. If he notices, he doesn’t say anything.

Then Barba gives up his right hand so Sonny could open his water. If Carisi didn’t know any better he’d think it was a sweet gesture. But, Sonny knows Barba, he’s just trying to make this fast as possible so they could get the key and get on with their lives and never tell anyone. But, they are going have to ask people, about how they got handcuffed together and where the hell is the key.

“So. Where do we begin?” Sonny says, his voice just a bit better.  
“Well let’s find aspirin and let’s see if we can wake up the dead.” Barba nods to the left toward the 5 or so fellas who were too drunk to remember their room numbers. Poor souls.

“But first, aspirin.” Barba nods his head in agreement and head back to the reception desk. This time they ask for the drug.

“I’m not sure why you didn’t ask that earlier.” She smiles that same smile again. Sonny is too tired to debate anything. She gives them the painkiller. “Don’t worry it’s all covered on the card.”

Sonny smiles and nods again and turns towards Barba. Carisi passes all the stuff in his hands to Barba’s and he looks… Understanding. Sonny rummages through his pockets and turns up nothing. Barba shows a slight frown and goes back to his neutral face. It’s all very carefull, like he’s controlling his emotions. Sonny doesn’t ponder on it too long before Barba catches him in the act. 

“Quit staring Carisi.” 

That’s unnecessarily rude Carisi thinks.

Barba trades his stuff back and searches his own pockets; nothing. 

“No cash, no card, no key. Let’s try and retrace our steps detective. What do you remember?” 

Sonny runs a hand through his matted and wild hair. “I remember sitting with Rollins, getting dinner, seeing a bunch of faces and I think I went to see you at one point.” He trails off at the end of that sentence, dropping his voice little. He’s unsure on that last part.

Barba nods. “I remember drinking alone for awhile, Liv came by and talked to me for a bit. Had dinner. Drank some more, and you came over and we drinked even more.

I don’t remember any conversations, including the one with the bride. Hell, I don’t even remember what I drank or ate.”

Sonny gives it a moment to sink in. They got two witness who would have some idea of what happened to them. Rollins and Liv. At least we can try and find one of them. Liv would want to spend her time with Tucker so maybe let's not try and find her. Rollins it is.

“Let’s go back outside and see if we can find Amanda.” Barba squints a little at ‘Amanda’. 

They return to the great outdoors and look at the wasted for a familiar face. If they don’t find one they are going to have to bribe the receptionist for Rollins’s room and key. Barba squats down to a particular blonde haired woman. Sonny tells himself not to stare at his ass. 

“Rollins. Rollins.” Barba gently shakes Amanda’s arm. Nothing, she’s out cold.   
“Come on Rollins. Wake up, we need your help.” Sonny gets on his knees and shakes her shoulders. Barba continues to poke at her until she stirs a moment later.

“Augh… Damn.” She groggily wakes up from her sleep. “What happened?” 

“We can ask you the same thing detective.” 

She sits up a bit and we hand her a spare water, her eyes are still closed. Sonny passes her an aspirin. She gratefully takes it. After she’s got her bearings she opens her eyes to see a wrecked Sonny and Barba squatting over her. 

“Oh hi guys, what are you---” She smiles brightly and starts to chuckle but, force to stop herself in pain. She won’t stop laughing. Barba looks a little angry.

“Oh my god, are you handcuffed together? I’m not gonna lie that’s hilarious! I guess you want to know where the key is huh?” The pair lean in a bit to hear the location. “I don’t know where it is. I have no idea who put you in handcuffs anyway.” They immediately deflate. 

“Ok but, what happened to me? I stayed with you for awhile then I went to go see Barba for some reason.” Sonny asks. Barba gives up squatting and sits down instead.

“You were talking to me about…” She trails off. At the very least Rollins can keep a secret. “Well you remember what we were talking about don’t you?” Sonny nods and refuses to meet Barba’s questioning gaze. “Yeah. That.” She glances off to the side. “Anyway, I got you some shots and we started to drink. No one came by but, then we were called to dinner. You made tipsy idle conversation about relationships and how’ll die alone. I at least remember that.” 

Sonny blushes a bit and Barba speaks up, “Don’t worry detective I’m sure you won’t die alone. You’ll have your cats there to keep you company.” Sonny dismisses his bashfulness and shoots Barba a glare.  
He smiles a little longer and fonder this time. 

“I don’t remember a lot of it, but when we went back outside there was people on the beach and docks. It was sundown, I didn’t wanna forget that. After getting another drink--- keep in mind Carisi you were drunker than me at this point and I got a head start. Anyway. After getting another drink you left and said you were going to see Barba. That’s all I remember.”

“Well that doesn’t really tell us anything other than the time of night we saw each other. Do you think you can remember anything else?” Sonny asks hopefully. 

Rollins ponders this for a moment. “I’m sure if you mention something that happened I’ll remember more details but, I do remember seeing you two later.” She facepalms. “With the handcuffs on.”

“And what time was that?” Barba urges, eager to get to the truth. Sonny can’t help but compare this to an interrogation. The irony is not lost on any of them.

“Well, let’s see. Around 4 is where you met me Carisi. An hour later was dinner. Maybe an hour ish later is when you went to go see Barba. So 6 o’clock. Then much later I saw you two…” She stops to remember and starts bursting out laughing. No stopping to hold back her pain. “Y-You were feeding each other cake! And you had such a hard time with it too. You were the drunkest people in that hallway. You were trying so hard not to spill the cake and feed the other like the other was a baby bird.” She was howling now and waking up the nearby. Barba and Carisi both blush now and turn away simultaneously. She snorts a few times and continues. “Yeah, now I remember. I was laughing then too then I got pulled away by Amaro. Next thing I know I’m here.”

That’s right. Amaro came to their wedding too. Grudgingly Sonny might add. But, this give them a new lead. Amaro. 

Barba clears his throat. “Anything else?”

“Nope. I have no idea where Nick is too, so good luck finding him.”

Uhg. This game is going to go on for awhile isn’t it? “Thanks Amanda, go get some actual rest ok? Hopefully you don’t get a cold from being in the cold all night.”

“I’m sure I’ll will unfortunately. All well. It wasn’t too bad.” She gets up, says her thanks again and leaves. 

“Ok now we have to check up on another witness now, Amaro.” Sonny gets up and forces himself not to give his hand to help Barba up. 

“We just gotta find him.” Barba murmurs. “Maybe we should ask the other people on the ground first before we hunt him down.” 

Sonny once again leads them to another fellow on the ground, sitting up and staring at them. He doesn’t recognize him. Maybe some cousin or uncle. They ask him if he knows what happened to them. He has no idea. They ask some of the others and follow them to the lobby. 

“This is a nightmare. We have nothing but unreliable witnesses.” Sonny is now in a mood for joking around a little bit, bring back that familiar banter. “But as long as they have a good memory it’s alright?” Barba adds. Sonny smiles, dimples showing. 

Barba drops his smirk and says, “Ok now what. Find Amaro and Liv right?”

“That’s the plan. Only thing is, how are we gonna find them?”

“Don’t know where either of their rooms are and I don’t want to bother Liv for as long as possible so let’s see if we can get Amaro’s room number.” Barba says. Can’t argue with that logic.

“I’m sorry but, I’m afraid that’s confidential. I can’t do that.” Barba valiantly tries to persuade the woman but, she knows better apparently. 

“Ok how about we check the breakfast bar. If we can’t find Nick then we gotta find someone else who knows where the handcuffs came from.” Sonny adds. “It’s 7 o’clock already, breakfast is open.”

Barba has run out of ideas so he can’t complain. Well, not too much anyway. “There’s got to be families down there, do you want to embarrass yourself in front of them too?” 

Sonny rolls his eyes. “They probably can figure it out themselves, let them think. It’s not worth correcting them.” Wait hold on. “Wait, if families are down there then Nick gotta be there too with his daughter, right?” 

“Hmm. It’s possible but, are we really gonna be the people who take their dad away to solve someone else’s problem?” 

“We gotta. We don’t have any more leads at the moment.” Barba has to grudgingly admit that Carisi’s right. He won’t say it to his face obviously but Carisi can tell anyway based off the look of his face.

So the duo head toward the breakfast area. On the right side is several chairs and tables to read the newspaper. There’s also a fireplace. On their left is the dining area and where all the food is. The smell of bacon allures them but, they want no part of food right now. They have a mission anyway. And as luck would have it, there’s Amaro with his daughter Zara. Sitting comfortably at a table off to the side. Sonny would hate to break up their father daughter time. 

“Hello Nick.” Sonny greets carefully. Zara notices them firsts and giggles a little. Sonny smiles back in return. Then Nick turns around, his gaze goes from curiosity to a mixture of pity and happiness in a split second of making eye contact with them. He wheezes a bit and starts to laugh full on, attracting other patrons. He seems to notice this and tries to calm himself down. Key word is ‘try’.

“Oh my god. I take it you didn’t find the key?” Nick gasps through laughter. Zara has a look of pure confusion on her face. 

“No.” Barba deadpans. “No we didn’t.” 

Nick eventually settles down and asks, “Hey who won by the way?”

Now it was their turn to look confused. “Uhh, won what?” Sonny asks cautiously. “The Monopoly game you were playing. You were also convinced to play Chutes and Ladders too.” 

“Sorry, what?” Barba asks in confusion.

“You guys were playing board games with us.” Zara spoke. “Yeah, I last saw you handcuffed playing Monopoly. Barba you were going bankrupt.” Nick finishes.

A small smirk crosses Barba’s lips but, immediately fades. “Ok when was this?” He asks.

“Uh, around 9 o’clock.”

“You pulled Rollins away sometime. We were also in that hallway. Eating cake.” Sonny adds.

“That’s right! That was about 8. God that was fun to watch, but I had to get Rollins sober, otherwise she was going to pass out. Once I got her settled I tried to find you two. You were with the kids at the kids table having the time of your life. Playing Chutes and Ladders.”

Zara giggles, “Yeah and you tried to teach us Monopoly but, we didn’t understand it so you guys got mad, calmed each other down and played by yourselves. Mr. Barba you were sad about something.”

“That’s when I came in,” Amaro continues, “Barba you were sad that you were going bankrupt and tried to steal from Carisi. By trying to seduce him.”

“I didn’t.” Barba says with wide eyes and flushed cheeks. “Yeah you did, but Carisi wasn’t buying it.”

“Oh wow, sorry Carisi.” When Nick mentioned the seducing part Sonny hid his face by turning away. He also remembered that moment. Barba’s tie was loose and askew and Sonny’s was as well. They were having the time of their lives. They didn’t make a complete fool of themselves around the kids. But, Sonny does remember Barba asking with a low growly voice to hand over some money. He vaguely remembers that Nick was there at all. All he was focused on was Barba and how much he wanted to make out with him. Then he remembers the kids sitting across from him and refusing with a heavy heart, Barba’s offer---Wait, did Barba just apologize.

“Wait did you just apologize counselor?” Sonny turns his head around not worrying about the blush. “Yeah I remember that, sort of. I shouldn’t have done that.” Barba was now looking at the floor. Amaro has a questioning look on his face but it appears he isn’t going to say anything.

Barba looks away from the floor to meet Nick’s eyes. “What happened after?”

“I’m not entirely sure. After you lost Barba you guys left, I took Zara our hotel room and I never saw you guys again.” 

Sonny pretends to shake off the apology from Barba. “Who else was there?”

“Lucy, Noah’s babysitter. She was taking care of a lot of them. There was also Jessie and some other kids and some other babysitters I think.” Nick muses. “Lucy’s actually over there.” Amaro nods the the other side of the room. To get there they’ll have to pass a lot of people. A lot of judging looks Sonny and Barba think.

“Thanks Amaro.” Barba says and power walks past the onlookers, dragging Sonny behind him. He really wants to find the key. He can hear Zara’s and Amaro’s faint goodbye.

“Hey sorry to bother you Lucy, but do you have any idea how we got handcuffed together?” Barba says restlessly. Lucy looks up from her phone and gives a pitying smile. “I don’t think you should be asking me, Mr. Barba.”

“Why?”

She shuts off her phone and sets it down then turns her body to face Barba. “You were playing cards with Detective Carisi, Liv, Detective Tutuola, and some of Mr. Tuckers relatives. You guys weren’t handcuffed then. I was there to take Noah for a visit for a while, couldn’t have been there for more than five minutes. They were teasing you guys pretty hard. Then I took Noah back to the kids, stayed there for a while then you guys came to quote, “crash the party”. Your words Detective.”

Barba sighs and rubs his hand over his face. “And what time was the card game?” 

“Uhm, I’m not sure. It was the before the cake cutting at least.” She adds. 

“So before 8…” Sonny murmurs. Barba hears his whispering and gives a tiny nod. 

Sonny gives a patient smile and thanks Lucy. “Is there anything else?”

She shakes her head, “Nope.”

They turn and this time they both power walk away from the scene. They get to the lobby once more and discuss the timeline. 

“So to recap, 6 we meet, 7 we play cards, then at 8 we are seen with the handcuffs feeding each other cake.”

Sonny runs his open hand through his wild hair. “So between the card game and the getting cake we got handcuffed together. Lucy wasn’t there to see it all, someone there must have either cuffed us or saw someone do it.” 

“Or rather Detective, we were handcuffed sometime around the cake slicing.” Barba shakes his head and moves on. “9 we crashed Lucy’s playdate and that’s about it.”

Sonny nods, “We gotta talk to someone who was there when we were playing cards. Liv needs to answer a lot of questions now, the relatives are gonna be a pain in the ass to track down so we now gotta find Fin.”

“This is one big scavenger hunt isn’t it?” Barba quips. Sonny smiles reminiscing of his days at summer camp where he used to play that all the time. But, now is not the time for nostalgia. “Kinda reminds me of summer camp.” Barba says quietly, like he doesn’t anyone to hear. But Sonny takes notice and he snaps his head from looking down the hallway to Barba wistful gaze into the distance. He can’t help himself, Barba opened the door.

“You were in summer camp counselor?” Sonny jokes. Barba meets his gaze. “Oh no, but that’s something you would do wouldn’t you?” No. The door wasn’t opened to peer into Barba’s childhood, it was into Sonny’s. “Yeah, I might have.” He glances away, looking bashful. Barba can’t help the fact that he thinks Carisi’s reaction is cute. “We played those all the time, this one time---”

“Ok Carisi, I didn’t ask for your autobiography.” 

Sonny smiles and stops himself. Those dimples are going to be the death of him Barba thinks.

“We should go find Detective Tutuola, Carisi.”

Both men think for a moment then Sonny snaps his fingers. “Got an idea Detective?”

“Yeah! We haven’t checked the dining area. We can try and look for Fin there, if he doesn’t turn up we search for clues.”

“How very,” Barba pauses for a moment, “detective-y of you. Anyway let’s go.”

The pair head down to the dining room, but they stop to ask for the time once more. Nearly 8 am. They enter through the double door and are met with staff cleaning out the sea of tables. They spot Fin on some kind of call near the dance floor in the far back. They walk up to him and he spots them, he pauses for less than a second and quickly ends the call.

“Sorry guys, you found the key I take it?” It occurs to Sonny that from Fin’s perspective he only sees Barba with a determined face in front of Sonny who looks like he’s cowering behind him. Like Barba is protecting him he warmly thinks. 

Barba steps to the side a bit and lifts his right hand up. “Oh” Fin says.

“Where did they come from.” Barba sounds accusing, not even leaving room for a question. Fin smirks a little and says, “You guys didn’t find Liv?” Sonny shakes his head.

“You guys don’t remember anything?” Both of them shake their heads ‘no’ again.

“Well, then. You guys wanted to play cards and Liv had some time before the cake cutting so we obliged. We were playing poker I bet you were bluffing Carisi. I had a lot to drink already so I literally bet that you were bluffing.”

Oh no.

“I introduced the deal that if you were indeed bluffing you were to be handcuffed to Barba.” 

Barba interjects, “And why did I agree to this?”

Fin just smirks. He’s definitely holding back on something. 

He ignores Barba and continues, “If I lost I had to be handcuffed to Rollins the rest of the night. Luckily she wasn’t there to disagree. We all agree it was a fair bet.”

Sonny knows where this is going. He a notorious bad bluffer when it comes to poker and it’s even worse when he’s drunk. Why didn’t Barba reject the offer?

“You lost Carisi, so Liv handcuffed you guys together and held on to the key. The game ended and Liv didn’t uncuff you two. A few minutes later the bride and groom cut the cake.”

Barba shakes his head, they don’t remember any of this. “Hey thanks Fin. Anything else?” Sonny accent thickens a bit.

“Oh yeah, I saw you two around 11 doing karaoke.” 

Fin doesn’t get a chance to finish his sentence before the pair shouts, “What?!”

Fin laughs a bit, “Munch was there too, he told me an hour earlier you two were slow dancing.”

“WHAT?!” They shout louder. They get some pissed off looks from the staff.

Fin laughs again, probably at the twin look of shock Barba and Carisi are sharing. 

“Yeah! Go talk to Munch, he saw it all. That’s when I decided I had enough to drink and turned in for the night. It was around the time you guys started to passionately singing, Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen.”

Barba completely facepalms now, taking the cuffed hand with him. Sonny gives up his hand for the good cause. 

“Anyway, see you guys later, I gotta run.” Fin takes off and Sonny watches him go. His gaze turns back to the small stage where they supposedly sang karaoke. He’s not even a good singer. And he remembers none of it. Well, that’s not entirely true, he remembers the fuzzy memory of singing Don’t Stop Me Now with Barba. Sonny reminisces how lovely Barba’s voice was despite how wasted he was. 

He remembers how in love he was.

Sonny shakes his head and Barba gives his cuffed hand back. Barba is blushing. He remembers too.

Carisi clears his throat. “Ok, let’s go find Munch.” Barba nods in agreement, he won’t stop staring at the floor. 

Sonny leads them out through the two doors and out into the main hallway. They’ve gotten lucky with finding the people they need to find but he knows his luck is going to run out. But, more people have got to be awake now. That means more at breakfast. Sonny doesn’t even bother with confirming his plan to Barba.

They arrive back at the breakfast area to see even more people. All well. Their pride is already hurt, so neither of them care anymore. They find Munch with Rollins and Jessie.

“Amanda, didn’t I tell you to get some rest?”

Munch smirks and Rollins replies, “Yeah but, I couldn’t sleep anyways and Jessie wanted breakfast anyway, then we found Munch. He won’t tell me anything about you two until you guys showed up. I guess he knew that you were trying to look for him.”

Barba sighs, “Let’s nip this in the bud Munch. Tell us what happened after 9 o’clock.”

“I don’t know for sure what happened after 9 for sure but, a little after 10 you guys entered the dining room like you two owned the place. You were so confident. You guys took a table in the back and I only assumed talked crap about the people dancing. I say so because when Barba lead Carisi onto the dance floor, you Carisi was talking about being able to do better.”

Amanda was starting to laugh and Jessie was looking adorably confused. But, John was relentless.

“You slowed danced to some songs then Liv and I requested I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You by Elvis. We were choking on our drinks.”

Amanda snorted again and jumped in on the tale. “I can’t believe I missed that! Please tell me someone got that on video.”

“It’s possible, but Liv for sure got video of them singing Mr. Brightside around 11.”

“I need to see this video. Where’s Liv?”

“Don’t know, I’m going to guess with her husband. Anyway I’m not done yet.” He turned back to Barba and Sonny. “You two were so cute together. Anyway you went back to your table in the back and I didn’t see you again until around 11:30 when you two overtook the karaoke machine. 

“Hmm… Let’s see the duo sang, Fell in Love With A Girl, by the White Stripes---That was good. You guys sang a lot of Queen and The Killers.”

Sonny and Barba’s faces were red as tomatoes. Barba turned his face away from Rollins laughing her ass off and Sonny took both his hands and hid his face. Ever since they woke up they actively avoided touching each other. This time was no different.

But still, soldier Munch marched on. “After singing and pouring your hearts on stage, you took to the dance floor. Surprisingly good for a drunken, handcuffed pair. I guess you tired yourselves out because you left the room eventually. I saw Liv take after you sometime later.”

“Oh god.” Barba grumbled. Sonny sighed and dropped his hands and brought his free one to run through his matted hair. 

Oh god is right. Why the hell did Sonny do that. Oh wait that’s right, he was drunk as a fish. He does remember having such a fun time through. He was way off key and Barba was screwing up his pitches as well but still doing better than Sonny could do when he was sober. Barba didn’t mind. Sonny remember being a bit embarrassed about it before they went to the dance floor. He said Sonny was great with no sarcasm. Then, they went into a conversation about how bad the dancers were on the floor. 

We can totally do better than that. 

That’s what Barba said. Then they showed them all how to dance to Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis. 

“Go find Liv you two. I heard from Fin that she has the key. And she’ll might tell you what happened after you left. Never saw you guys again.”

“Yeah,” Barba said, still not turning around. “We’ll go find her.”

Then Barba broke the silent rule. He used his cuffed hand and grabbed Sonny’s. Carisi felt a chill run up his spine at the touch. Barba then walked them out, Sonny glanced back at Munch not looking surprised at the fact that they were holding hands like middle schoolers. 

Barba didn’t let go until they got to the front of the hallway that led to the hotel rooms. He seem reluctant to let go and Sonny could say the same. Finally Barba turned around, but still didn’t meet Carisi’s eyes. He was still blushing a little.

“W-We need to find Liv, get the key and find out what happened after we danced.”

Sonny honestly didn’t want this to end. Sure it was a bit selfish but, deep down in his heart he wanted to stay connected with Barba. Stay handcuffed. Stay close. But it would never happen. They were met with evidence that they were flirting with each other, at least Barba was. And Barba regretted it. 

Like the final nail in the coffin, Sonny nodded away his dream. 

They waited around for awhile, playing catch up with Amaro, Rollins and Munch. They were sitting on a sofa in the lobby. Sonny was surprised that they weren’t kicked out for public humiliation. Or the fact they looked like they got mugged and were probably scaring away guests. Then at long last Liv found them. She looked healthy. 

“Well how are you two holding up?”

Sonny and Barba gave her a tired look. She laughed.

“Ha, well, do you remember what happened?”

Again they shook their heads again. At the same time too.

She smirked. “Talked to Munch. When I chased after you two I found that you two were in the hotel pool.”

Barba’s head snapped up and Sonny eyes looked to meet Liv’s eyes.

“I’m not sure how you ended up in there but, I saw from looking in, you helped each other out of the pool, grabbed towels and then sat down together, talking. I walked in a little later telling you to go to bed you lovebirds.”

That phrase was familiar. Sonny turned his head up and started to remember.

~

“Come on Sonny I know how to cool down.” 

(That’s right, Barba called him Sonny all night)

Barba took Carisi’s hand and jogged down the hall to the door that was labeled “Pool/Spa”. He lead Sonny in and stood by the pool, watching the water. It was dim in the room and the light made the water reflect shapes on the walls.

(It was strangely beautiful)

Then Sonny got the urge to jump. Which he did.

The water surrounded them, giving everything a tint of turquoise. The calming sound of water lapping in a drain was gone and it turned into a dull, soft, rushing sound. After a few moments of silence his body was asking for air forcing him to reemerge from the chlorine filled water. He gasps for air and wipes the water from his eyes. The dead weight on his left hand still didn’t meet him at the surface.

(He was so scared for a moment)

Then Barba broke through the water intaking air. He was like that for a second, with a stunned look plastered on his face. Then he met Sonny’s worrying eyes and smiled. 

(It was such a honest and pleasant smile)

He laughed and Sonny laughed with him. It turned into a giggle. They swam in place for a while, their clothes soaked and hair ruined. Laughing. Having one of the best nights in their lives. 

(He was so happy)

~

Sonny remembers how in love he was. He remembers getting turned on by feeding Barba cake like an adorable baby bird. He remembers singing, dancing, flirting back at Barba when playing cards. 

Barba remembers how helplessly in love he was. He remembers feeding Sonny with cake and how cute he was. He remembers singing and dancing with him and comforting him when he was self-conscious on his singing abilities. He remembers knowing the fact Sonny was bluffing, but he certainly wouldn’t mind being handcuffed the the guy he had a crush on for years and only an hour ago he confessed his---

Oh my God.

Barba confessed his love to Sonny and Sonny excitedly confessed back.

Sonny remembers revealing his feelings for Barba and Barba accepting them. 

He remembers the kiss they shared too. The sunset cast a orange glow over the pair.

They both remember now. 

They remember the not so obvious flirting and during the card game they played after. 

They remember eating cake and after Rollins left they kissed again.

They remember playing board games with the kids and enjoying their company, and the flirting.

They remember slow dancing and being in love.

They remember making out at their back table and not giving a damn if anyone saw them.

They remember karaoke and the dancing.

They remember making out in the pool and helping each other out of it.

~

“You two lovebirds should get a room.” Liv says as she walking in on the couple sitting side by side with towels draped over them. 

“Very funny Liv.” Barba observes. He looks over at Sonny, who’s head is on his shoulder.

“Yeah Liv not funny. But, we should go find a bed at least Rafael.” Sonny muses.

(Sonny called Barba by his first name too)

Liv smiles once more. “Come find me tomorrow for the key, ok?”

“Ok O-liv-e-a.” Sonny slurred with his accent turned up to 11.

Liv left the room. Barba then took Sonny’s hand and led them down the hallway a little later. The floor looked comfy.

~

Barba and Sonny sat with empty stares while they remembered. 

Liv laughed at their blank faces. “Well I gave Ed the key you guys best go retrieve it huh? He’s by the fireplace.” Then Lieu left them. 

Barba swallowed. “I don’t want to get the key.” He whispered.

“I don’t either.” Sonny whispered back.

“But, we have too.” 

Sonny and Barba slowly walked into the breakfast area and went to the fireplace to see a nicely dressed Tucker. He smiled once he noticed the pair walked close enough.

“Well boys, you have a fun night?”

That was an understatement. 

“Here,” Tucker took out a small key out of his right pocket and stood up from his lounge chair. “I’ll help you out here.” Sonny and Barba reluctantly raise their chained hands and Tucker entered the key into it’s slot and for a heartbeat they only heard the fireplace roar and the tiny ‘clink’ of the key unlocking the handcuffs. Tucker waited a moment for one of them to hurry and take the cursed cuffs off themselves, but they stayed mute and unmoving. A strange look crossed Tucker’s face and he took off the cuffs for them.

“See you later.” Then Tucker left.

Barba rubbed the sore red spot on his right wrist and Sonny scratched at sore on his left wrist.

“Counselor do---”

“Call me Rafael, Sonny.”


End file.
